Vintage Apple computer auctioned off for $668,000

May 25, 2013

An auctioneer says one of Apple's first computers—a functioning 1976 model—has been sold for a record 516,000 euros ($668,000).

German auction house Breker said Saturday an Asian client, who asked not to be named, bought the so-called Apple 1, which the tech company's founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built in a family garage.

Breker claims it is one of only six known remaining functioning models in the world. Breker already sold one last year for 492,000 euros.

It says the computer bears Wozniak's signature. An old business transaction letter from the late Jobs also was included.

The Apple 1, which was sold for $666 in 1976, consisted of only the circuit board. A case, a keyboard and a screen had to be bought separately.

Google is unveiling its cheapest Chromebook laptops yet, two versions priced at $149 aimed at undercutting Microsoft's Windows franchise and gaining an even stronger hold in school and overseas markets.

User comments : 2

A bit of advice: If you are the next Jobs or Wozniak, please mark the first products or prototypes you make, in some unobvious way, hopefully in a very non-professional system. The idea being, during the years, your markings should be ignored by most everybody, but when you are retired, you really could benefit from some way of actually knowing which samples are mere copies, and which are actually your originals, and preferably, in the right sequence.